


Sorry Babe

by ShadeOps21



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Banter, F/M, Jokes, and now he's paying for it, inspired by the CGI cinematic, of course he won't 'execute' his girl, post-Tournament of Champions, pulse hesitated, she'll gladly execute him though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22785964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeOps21/pseuds/ShadeOps21
Summary: Pulse hesitated in the tournament finals. And even a week afterwards, he's still paying for it.At least everyone else is amused...Oh well. You get what you deserve after all. Should've just shot her when he had the chance.
Relationships: Jack "Pulse" Estrada/Yumiko "Hibana" Imagawa
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	Sorry Babe

**Author's Note:**

> So, the most recent CGI video released a day ago and has the whole fandom hyped for different reasons. Me? I was drawn to the real-life recreation of how the Attacker vs Defender gameplay in 'real life' actually goes down, and answered a lot of lore technical questions which I will likely implement in future works (chalk-based munitions for firearms and explosives, preset entry points, etc etc).
> 
> And while I'd also like to go on and just rave about how amazing Mira looks with her wavy hair, or how amazing each character was portrayed both physically- and personality-wise, I really latched onto the final 'fight' between Pulse and Hibana. 
> 
> Ubi's been dropping hints for a little while now, about their relationship, and this short effectively canonised it for me. I absolutely died at their "Jack"/"Yumi" exchange just before Sledge busted in like a militant Kool-Aid Man, and how Hibana absolutely wiped the floor with Pulse before popping him in the head with a 'sorry-not-sorry'-ish "Sorry Babe."
> 
> I was discussing this bit with some friends, and we basically came to the conclusion that when (not if, when) the rest of the operators found out that Jack let Yumi 'live' only for her to kill him, he'd never hear the end of it.
> 
> So now we have this!
> 
> Enjoy! I had a lot of fun writing this piece!

Jack Estrada was a man with very few regrets in life. It would’ve been inaccurate to say that he had none, as no one person could live a life completely regret-free. That was the nature of life, after all.

One of his regrets though, as loathe as he was to admit it, was his hesitation during the finals of RAINBOW’s Third Annual Tournament of Champions. He had Yumiko completely dead to rights at the bomb site. It was really easy to just pull the trigger and take the round then and there (Seamus’ imitation of the Kool Aid Man notwithstanding).

But he didn’t. He didn’t pull the trigger, let himself get distracted by Cowden’s arrival, and then get humiliated by Yumiko as she effortlessly took him down in a series of fluid strikes and an unapologetic one-liner.

_ “Sorry babe.” _

Oh, Taina had let him have it after the teams returned to the stadium’s lockers and the story of how Jack was taken out came to light. By the end of her tirade, he was wishing that Yumiko’s close-range shot to the back of his head had knocked him out completely. But no, knife-wielding Brazilian women aside, the worst had yet to actually come.

The entire tournament had also been broadcast to the rest of RAINBOW back at base, with camera feeds supplied by both external cameras around the stadium and internal “CCTV” style feeds that captured the action inside the course in full high definition video  _ and _ audio. Meaning that everyone in the fifty-person strong force that  _ wasn’t  _ already at the stadium as either spectators or participants in that final round were witnesses to him getting his ass handed to him by his girlfriend… all because he hesitated.

That was only the beginning, though.

* * *

Jack poked his head into the equipment ready room, looking around for either of his FBI teammates before catching sight of Miles leaving his personal gear cage. He jogged over and stopped him before he could get out of reach.

“Hey, Miles, you see Elena anywhere? I need to talk with her about a tweak to my HB-5.”

The shit-eating grin on Miles Campbell’s face was the only warning that Jack received before he answered, “Sorry babe, I think you just missed her, she’s off with Emma sourcing parts for our recon drones. Should’ve been faster.”

Jack stood their slack jawed as his  _ alleged _ friend walked away laughing to himself, before he sighed and hung his head low. Of course he’d been expecting the jokes to start. He shouldn’t be surprised, as it was his own fault. It was a matter of time. Do something that’s embarrassingly funny and you’re going to never hear the end of it. This was likely the cumulative payback for all the jokes and remarks he’d made at the expense of others over the many years of his career.

All he could do now was just wait it out…

* * *

… which is easier said than done when practically  _ everyone  _ in RAINBOW was in on the joke.

He’d walked into both Eliza and Jordan going through their typical “flirt fighting” in the gym, reciting the occasional line from some movie he couldn’t recognise as they sparred and exchanged blows.

“Who’s your daddy now?” Eliza taunted as she pinned Jordan to the mat by sitting on his back, holding both of his arms behind his back in a painful fashion.

“For fucks sake, get a room!” Jack had called out in frustration, having spent the last ten minutes on a nearby treadmill trying to block out their banter. He realised that he’d screwed up when he saw them exchange a  _ look _ then focus back on him.

“Sorry babe,” they began, in unison with matching smirks, before Eliza climbed off of Jordan’s back and continued speaking, “we’ll leave you run in peace. Just save some energy for Yumi, alright?”

Jack could only shake his head in regret as the pair left the gym with barely restrained wandering hands.

* * *

“Evening Elena,” Jack greeted with a smile, looking up from his workbench within RAINBOW’s R&D workshop as Elena Álvarez walked in and made her way to her own bench. “Project time?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Our dear Six has got me working overtime on processing all of these equipment evaluations. Speaking of which: you and Masaru finished up the eval on his Yokai, right?” Mira asked, glancing over her shoulder at him as she opened up her workbook laptop and started connecting different pieces of equipment to it for assessment.

Jack scratched the back of his head, “Uh, yeah? It should be on the shared drive you’d requested us to use when you assigned us the homework. I uploaded it before the tournament started.”

Elena chuckled at Jack’s choice of words, “We’ll make A-plus students out of you and Masaru yet.”

“Oh,” Jack piped up, setting down his soldering iron, “has Harry said anything about that requisition request I submitted for my HB-5? I had to bench it for the tournament as some of the internal sensors are starting to fail.”

“ _ Lo siento nena, _ ” Elena replied with a soft laugh, “I’m afraid that with all of the tournament planning and execution, Harry’s a little backlogged with requests and applications. It might get clear in the next few days, but if it’s priority, you could always go and ask him yourself.”

“Got it… might do it later today, as the longer I leave these faults develop, the more at risk of a critical failure occurring…” Jack said as he stood up from his bench. He got as far as the exit before he paused and turned around to look at Elena. “Hey?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“What exactly does ‘ _ Lo siento nena’  _ mean? Spanish isn’t my strongest…”

“It means, ‘Sorry babe’.”

“... This isn’t going to go away any time soon, is it...”

* * *

“Come in!” Harry called out from behind his desk, head down as he shuffled around multiple different folders and formed them into different piles. With the recent completion of the tournament, he finally had a chance to address some of the backed up paperwork that had accrued over the last couple of months. “Oh, Jack, lovely to see you. I trust you’re all well rested?”

“Wel, I’m as rested as we can be in this kind of job, sir.” Jack said with an appreciative smile as he took a seat in front of Harry’s desk. “I was going to ask if I could have something fast tracked, but…” he trailed off, gesturing towards the growing stacks on the desk between them.

“Given current circumstances I think that a snowball would have a better chance in hell, as our dear colleague Max would say,” Harry remarked with a wiry smirk, “though in a far less eloquent manner.”

“No kidding… need a hand with anything here?” Jack offered, standing up to get a closer look.

“While I do appreciate the offer, a lot of these folders are above your current clearance level. Which is also part of the reason why I cannot get an administrative assistant whom I could palm half of this stuff off onto.” Harry sighed and collapsed back into his chair. “You wanted to fast track something?”

Jack nodded, “The specialised sensors in my HB-5 are starting to fail out, and I urgently need replacements.”

“Ah, a mission-critical requisition request… I’ll try and do what I can for you, Jack. But no promises.”

“I appreciate it regardless,” Jack reassured, standing up and taking Harry’s offered hand. “If there is anything I or any of the others here can help out with, just say the word. You’re always telling us to reach out and accept the help offered to us; might as well practise what you preach.”

Harry smiled and shook his head, “You all have much more pressing concerns to worry about than the mind-numbing world that is paperwork.”

“Doesn’t look all that bad to me,” Jack said with a small chuckle.

“Sorry babe, but leave this to the professionals,” Harry returned with an equally soft chuckle, which turned into a full laugh when he caught sight of Jack’s downtrodden expression. “I couldn’t resist, Jack. No hard feelings…”

“I have a few choice words that I could say, but I’ll bite my tongue because you sign my paychecks.”

* * *

“Rough day?” Yumiko asked as Jack plodded into her room and collapsed face first into her bed with a soft groan. She took the noise as an affirmative answer, and shut her laptop on her desk before standing up and crossing the floor to take a seat beside his prone form, “What’s got you all bothered?”

“Just the entire unit having a laugh at my expense…” Jack grumbled out as he turned his head to the side to look at her.

Yumi ran a hand up and down Jack’s back gently and reassuringly, “Is that all? Mister Jack Estrada can dish it out but can’t take it?” She teased gently, shifting around so she could lay beside him and tuck into his side.

“I can take it, but when it’s the same damn comment each time, it gets a little grating.” He sighed out, rolling over onto his back and rubbing his face, the weeklong of constant jabs finally taking its toll.

“Sorry to hear that babe, but…” Yumi trailed off as she felt Jack stiffen up beside her. “Jack…?”

“Please… please never say that again.” Jack said quietly, looking at her with a pleading expression.

“Say what… oh…  _ oh _ , Jack…” She began to laugh softly, covering her mouth, “Is this about the tournament finals?”

“Yes, it’s about the tournament finals,” Jack grumbled in response, shaking his head. “I can take being beaten by you, that’s no problem. It’s just what you said when you did it that’s got everyone else laughing and poking fun.”

“What can I say? I  _ was _ about to shoot you near-point blank in the head with a simunition. Only felt right that I preemptively apologise.”

“But ‘Sorry  _ babe _ ’? Couldn't say ‘Sorry Jack’, had to be a pet name?” Jack asked in a near-whine.

“It just came out…” Yumi answered, cuddling up to his side apologetically. “Look, it’ll run its course and soon everyone will find something else. You know how these things are.”

“Yeah… I’m just sick of hearing it. Hell, even  _ Harry _ said it to me.”

“If it means anything, I really  _ am _ sorry,  _ babe _ …” Yumi trailed off, raising an eyebrow at him suggestively.

“No, no you aren’t…” Jack replied, his face forming a low smile as he slowly rolled over and moved to straddle Yumi’s legs, “but you  _ will be _ when I’m through with you…”


End file.
